Richard Parkinson (explorer)


Richard Parkinson full name Richard Heinrich Robert Parkinson was a Danish explorer and anthropologist.
In 1875, he became a representative of the Hamburg trading firm J. C Godeffroy & Sohn in Samoa. He was, in part, employed to collect ethnographic material for the Godeffroy Museum. He remained in Samoa until 1882, settling afterwards on the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain. From there he undertook larger and smaller journeys to the Bismarck Archipelago, then the Solomon Islands and New Guinea.
His masterwork Dreißig Jahre in der Südsee,, appeared in several editions first in 1907 and again in 1911. It describes in detail the islands, Neulauenburg, Neumecklenburg and New Hanover, St. Matthias Islands, the Admiralty Islands and Micronesian outliers in the Bismarck Sea, the German Solomon Islands, their societies, masks and mask dances, legends and fairy tales as well as the languages.
He also collected zoological specimens, especially insects.

Works